In the autobiographical writings of many twentieth-century Russian
intellectuals, we find considerable attention—often extended
passages, chapters, or essays—devoted to the writer's intellectual
mentor, often a university professor. This is true not only for
writers who studied under members of famous schools
like Lidija Ginzburg and Venjamin Kaverin, but also for less well
known but intellectually active figures such as P. P. Blonskij
(pedagogue and philosopher, 1884–1941) and N. P. Anciferov
(historian, 1889–1958). The inclusion of these passages seems to
be characteristic and significant in the construction of the
autobiographer's own identity. Building on recent theoretical and
critical work on Russian autobiography (esp. Jane Gary Harris) as well
as drawing on Western autobiographical theory and studies of
twentieth-century Russian culture (e.g., Shepherd and Kelly), this
paper will analyze the tribute to the mentor
in the
autobiographical works of the intellectuals mentioned above. The
importance accorded to the mentor figure has several aspects. First,
it performs the structural (generic) function of linking the
documentary memoir with the private exploration of the self, two
strains of autobiographical writing which have tended to merge in the
twentieth century. Second, it situates the writer explicitly in both
an intellectual and an institutional context, and as such contributes
to the continuation of intellectual history. At the same time, the
selection of the mentor differentiates each writer from others writing
in the same genre. Third, it serves a cultural purpose: by investing
the mentor figure with positive cultural and moral values as well as
intellectual authority, the autobiographer makes a statement about the
importance of the intellectual in Russian culture, while also placing
him or herself as the heir to these values and that tradition. In this
sense the mentor passage is a reflection of the cultural value of
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and
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for the autobiographer. The
mentor tribute is thus a culturally specific as well as individual
response to some of the generic demands of intellectual
autobiography.